IN this digital world, breaking news arrives in all different forms: twitter, email, texts. Often it is irrelevant, sometimes it is shocking. Yesterday at 1.27pm, it was disbelieving.

The untimely death of Graham Taylor at the age of 72 has touched football in such a way that had he led England to World Cup glory in 1994, and not been portrayed as a root vegetable instead, he could not have received such heartfelt tributes.

The reason was understandable: Taylor was a football man through and through, and a gentleman with it. He progressed from the grassroots of the game to achieve extraordinary success at club level, take a battering when in charge of the national side, and then regain his reputation back in the Football League.

Whether he was being panned by the critics, abused by fans, ridiculed for letting the television cameras into his most private footballing world, he never lost his dignity. He was more than just a survivor. Graham Taylor was a lifeblood of the English game for more than 40 years.

"If there ever was a manger who had no reason to be humble, doing what he did in bringing Watford up to the top division, it was Graham. But he maintained humility throughout and he instilled that in all his players," said John Barnes, one of the stars of that Watford side which Taylor took to second place behind mighty Liverpool in the old First Division.

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Former England and Watford manager Graham Taylor has died at the age of 72

"Graham started my career, so I know more than most the influence he had on players. I was a 17-year-old and he put me straight into the side but I was a person first and a footballer second.

"He really cares about you off the field and he really prepared me for my whole football career and going to a big club like Liverpool."

Gareth Southgate, the England manager, also summed it up perfectly by saying: "You always talk about people's contribution within football but you remember them most as people and he was somebody that had time for everybody and was generous with that time and I think they're the human qualities that you remember the most."

By 1976, Taylor, whose playing career with Lincoln had been cut short by injury, had become one of the top young managers in the country after leading the club he had played for to the Fourth Division title.

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Graham Taylor managed England at Euro 1992

Watford chairman Elton John turned to Taylor and the rest is an extraordinary history. He earned three promotions, took them to second behind Bob Paisley's Liverpool in 1983 and then the FA Cup Final the following year - and Elton's Wembley tears - where they lost 2-0 to Everton.

Taylor forged a team that was not only successful on the pitch but engaging off it, a 'community club' in the true sense of the phrase in a way that would be unrecognisable today.

Players regularly visited supporters at work, free of charge or any marketing motive, and when Taylor first arrived he took to the streets of Watford to ask fans for their views. At a time when football was plagued by hooliganism, the club stood as a beacon of cohesion and local harmony.

Next it was Aston Villa and he took them to second in the league in 1990 before England came calling. And there, second was just never going to be good enough.

After being knocked out of the 1992 Euros and controversially taking off captain Gary Lineker as England trailed Sweden 2-1, he was ridiculed as a Turnip. Lesser men would have crumbled. He rode a storm that never went away, until his days in the England job ended after failure to make the 1994 World Cup finals.

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Taylor worked as a pundit for BT Sport

Fans and players react to death of Graham Taylor

Thu, January 12, 2017

Click through the gallery as fans and players pay their respects following the death of Graham Taylor, aged 72

Click through the gallery as fans and players pay their respects following the death of Graham Taylor, aged 72

What followed was the extraordinary fly-on-the-wall documentary 'An Impossible Job', which had followed the latter stages of his England reign and brought the now infamous phase 'Do I not like that'.

But he rose again. Returning to football with Wolves, and then Watford, he turned back the clock and with successive promotions to the Premier League, but after relegation in 2000, Taylor retired the following year.

But everyone still wanted a part of him and his role at the forefront in football remained, as a BBC radio summariser, and as Watford chairman.

And a man of the highest decency.

As Elton John said: "He was like a brother to me. We went on an incredible journey together and it will stay with me forever. We have become a leading English club because of his managerial wisdom and genius."